BERLIN – For local Jennifer Hope Wills, the last Broadway performance of “The Phantom of the Opera” was personal.
From 2006-2010, Wills performed eight shows a week as the female lead Christine Daaé in the show. Wills, who recently returned to the lower shore and currently serves as a one-on-one educational assistant at Berlin Intermediate School, was able to watch the legendary show’s final performance in New York City last weekend with her father, William Wills, who for 20 years operated Parker Playhouse in Ocean City. Wills grew up acting alongside her family before graduating from Stephen Decatur High School and earning degrees from Salisbury University and the Indiana University School of Music.
Jennifer Hope Wills is pictured on stage as Christine Daaé with actor Howard McGillin as the Phantom. Photo by Joan Marcus
The final “Phantom of the Opera” performance on Sunday was by invitation only, and Wills was among those in attendance. Throughout its award-winning Broadway run dating back to 1988, there have been approximately 14,000 performances, making it the longest running show in Broadway history.
After taking her son to swimming practice last weekend, Wills, who now lives in Berlin, traveled to New York City to meet her father, who was flying in from Florida to join her for the finale on Sunday at the Majestic Theater.
“It was definitely an emotional roller coaster and a thrill to be included among the invitation only audience. It was a bit like a super fancy high school reunion getting to reunite with so many old friends but one tinged with sadness knowing that this amazing chapter in so many lives was ending,” she said. “For 35 years Phantom stood steady on Broadway. I know that I personally don’t even really remember the time before that Phantom mask lit up 45th Street. There was a superpower charged energy of excitement when the show began and the chandelier rose up over our heads for the last time amongst a sea of roaring cheers.”
As the show continued, Wills said the impact of the finality hit her as well as the specific significance of the production on her life.
“… excitement slowly changed over the course of the show to a heaviness like that which comes with a broken heart. When the Phantom paused for a moment to take one last glance at the theatre before disappearing into his chair, I began to shed tears,” she said. “I shed tears for all the people that were about to lose their jobs, I shed tears for that amazing time in my life that will never return and I shed tears for the loss of the brilliance that was “The Phantom of the Opera” on Broadway which in turn represented the end of that second “golden age” of musical theatre. Yes, it’s not gone forever and is still playing around the world and will most likely be revived back on Broadway before we know it but, the brilliant original is gone.”
Wills recounted as a child the excitement of seeing the show for the first time with her father Bill compared to watching the last performance on Sunday.
Jennifer Hope Wills was joined at the finale in New York City by her father, William Wills, who for 20 years owned and operated with his wife Sue the Parker Playhouse in Ocean City.
“From getting in line at 4:30 in the morning for standing room tickets at the back of the theatre back in 1988 to having complimentary prime seats in the second-row center being surrounded by past Phantoms and Christines in 2023 was a dream come true and being able to share that dream with my father who planted that seed was utter perfection,” she said. “Sitting there next to [my father] as he was entranced, thrilled and moved to sobs with every moment as if it was his first time was priceless but, when my picture and name shone on the big screen above Andrew Lloyd Webber’s head and he beamed with pride, I felt humble gratitude for the gift that was given to me, the gift of getting to be one of the lucky few who got to take part in bringing ‘The Music of the Night’ into the hearts of many.”
Wills left Broadway behind for good and returned to the lower shore in 2019, joining the faculty at Salisbury University as adjunct professor of the practice in the Music, Theatre and Dance Department. The Berlin resident now works with special needs children in the Worcester County Public School system.
“I am still teaching but in a very different way. I left SU in order to cut down on commuting time and being available for my son in the late afternoons and evenings,” she said. “This past year I have been working at Berlin Intermediate School as a one-on-one educational assistant with an incredible young man. I moved back to the shore because I still had such fond memories of a wonderful childhood here and I wanted the same for my son. In the end, the timing couldn’t have been better.”
Wills’ Broadway career begin in 2004 as the understudy for Belle in Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” before co-starring opposite Brooke Shields in “Wonderful Town.” In 2006, Wills auditioned for her dream role as Christine Daaé in the Phantom of the Opera, securing the alternate role (performing twice a week). Two months later, she became the principal Christine on the national tour and earned rave reviews, leading to the appointment as lead for the Broadway show.
While today she is focused on raising her teenage son Vincent and working with local children in the school, Wills offered some advice to those who aspire for careers under the lights as she once did.
Jennifer Hope Wills, pictured during her run with Phantom of the Opera from 2006-2010, was invited to watch the final Broadway performance last Sunday in New York City. Photo by Joan Marcus
“… study and learn as much as you can. Not only on skills such as dancing, acting, singing, etc. but simply learning information on all sorts of varied topics. The more well rounded and knowledgeable you are, the more you have to draw from in order to create your characters,” she said. “Also, seek out ways to gain as much exposure to being on the stage as you can whether that’s joining the debate club, giving school presentations, joining the drama club, being a liturgist at church or being in a full-blown community theatre production, just get experience being in front of all kinds of people.”
